Google continues expansion, leasing a big office building in Sunnyvale

SUNNYVALE -- Google (GOOG) confirmed Thursday it has leased a big office building in Sunnyvale where the technology titan could move 1,000 employees -- part of an eye-popping growth surge of nearly 1 million square feet of leases in about a month.

Mountain View-based Google leased the offices in a five-building complex called Technology Corners near the intersection of Innovation Way and 11th Avenue in Sunnyvale. The latest lease gives Google all five buildings in the office development, as well as a cafeteria building, said Katelin Jabbari, a spokeswoman for the Internet giant.

In a lease deal last year, Google rented 715,000 square feet at the complex, according to Phil Mahoney, an executive vice president with commercial real estate firm Cornish & Carey Newmark Knight Frank, who is marketing the Technology Corners complex. That earlier deal and the new lease give Google a total of 947,000 square feet of offices in the project, which was developed by realty firm Jay Paul.

Based on typical zoning and planning guidelines, the five buildings could accommodate 3,800 to 4,700 Google employees.

"Google is growing like gang busters," said Chad Leiker, a vice president with Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate firm. "They are taking a lot of space this year."

Including the latest deal, Google within the last 30 days has leased about 900,000 square feet of offices in Mountain View and Sunnyvale.

Together, the leases within the past few weeks would enable Google to move 3,600 to 4,500 employees into the various buildings.

In mid-August, Google confirmed it had struck a deal to lease a 500,000-square-foot office complex in Mountain View on the site of the former Mayfield Mall shopping center that could accommodate 2,500 workers. Then at the end of August, it leased an additional 168,000 square feet in Mountain View in a project developed by Sobrato Organization, an office center large enough for 800 workers.

Google also is laying plans for a 1 million-square-foot campus on the NASA Ames Research Center site, a short distance from its headquarters in Mountain View.

"This is great for the real estate market and the job market," said Jim Beeger, a senior vice president with Colliers International, a commercial realty firm. "Google is accounting for a huge amount of the total leasing activity in Santa Clara County."

Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167 or 408-373-3556. Follow him at Twitter.com/georgeavalos.